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74 
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CUBAN OPINION 



ON THE 



President's Message 

MANIFESTO ADDRESSED BY 

"The Cuban Society of Judicial & Economic Studies" 

TO THE 

American People. 




J. ii. ECIIEMENDIA PRESS 

New York 

1890 




on thePresident'sMessage 



MANIFESTO ADDRESSED BY 

"The Cuban Society of Micial & Economic Studies' ' 

TO THE 

AMERICAN PEOPLE. 

' Phe Cuban patriots have risen in arms against 
* the despotic government of Spain, in 
order to establish the absolute political indepen- 
dence of the Island of Cuba. They have not for 
a moment failed to recognize the magnitude and 
the dangers of the enterprise. They did not for 
a moment fail to see the calamities that they 
were about to bring upon their own country, 
nor were they so blind as not to foresee the inter- 
national complications that might arise from a 
state of war existing in a country, intimately 
connected by mercantile interests with powerful 



foreign nations. But the evils which weighed 
upon the Cubans had become so intolerable, 
the injustice they experienced was so degrading 
to their dignity, and the future of the Cuban 
people was so seriously compromised, that they 
preferred to risk all the dangers of an unequal 
and tremendous struggle, rather than to contem- 
plate their own material annihilation by the rapa- 
city of the Spanish government, and their moral 
ruin under the degrading and corrupted rule of 
Spanish sovereignty, beneath whose shadow this 
system was inflexibly maintained. 

The patriots were well aware that they were 
about to risk their lives, to place in jeopard}^ 
the immediate prosperity of their country and 
to disturb the economic equilibrium of the mar- 
kets of the world. But a long and painful ex- 
perience had taught them that, after all, the 
Spanish government was more ruinous to the 
Island than the most devastating war could be; 
for in consequence of that government, the econo- 
mic history of Cuba has been a prolonged crisis, 
with periodic and frightful exacerbations. The 
Cubans, moreover, confidently hoped that the 
justice of their grievances, the elevation of their 
principles and the purity of their intentions 
would justify their manful resolution before the 
eyes of the world. 



Iii this regard, the hopes of the Cubans have 
not been wholly disappointed. The sympathies 
of this great Republic, the natural asylum of 
those who suffer for the sake of liberty, and the 
pattern for those who aspire to civic dignity, 
have been with us from the beginning. The 
countries of Spanish America united to us by 
close bonds of kinship and historic associations, 
have been moved by our misfortunes, and have 
applauded the heroic efforts of our people. 

Now at the end of two years of incessant 
struggle during which we have not spared our 
blood and our properties in the effort to resist 
the onslaught of the most formidable army that 
ever crossed the Atlantic ocean; now that we 
have dislodged the Spanish government from 
four-fifths of our territory, now that we have 
with us the immense majority of the Cuban 
people, even to those who must remain in the 
cities dominated by the Spanish army, it would 
seem to us that we have a right to expect the 
moral and diplomatic support of the free gov- 
ernments of this New World, in the centre of 
which our country lies. 

It was natural, therefore, that we should 
look forward with anxiety to the message of the 
President of the American nation at the opening 
of the Federal Congress. His words were to 



4 

decide whether the justice of our cause, the her- 
oic sacrifices and untold sufferings of our people 
had been duly appreciated by him whose duty 
it is to represent the spirit of this great Republic 
in its relations with foreign powers. 

We cannot doubt that the President has 
studied carefully the situation in Cuba; that he 
has made use of all the means to gather informa- 
tion from the consular agents of the United States 
in that island. We cannot doubt the rectitude 
of his purposes nor the elevation of his senti- 
ments, and we accept, therefore, with respect 
and gratitude his offer to lend the good offices 
of the United States to both belligerent parties 
in order to hasten the termination of the struggle. 

For the same reason we deplore most keenly 
that the only explicit suggestion found in 
the message looking toward an agreement be- 
tween Cuba and Spain should be an altogether 
impracticable suggestion. In these critical mo- 
ments the slightest misunderstanding in the 
public opinion may bring upon us grave perils. 
The life or death of a people are in the balance. 
Our duty and our interests demand that we 
should express frankly oar convictions in order 
that the American people and their representa- 
tives shall not entertain a proposition that does 



not, in any way, satisfy the needs of Cuba nor 
the deliberate purpose of its inhabitants. 

The President believes that if Spain offered 
a substantial autonomy to Cuba, it might be 
reasonable to expect a peaceful understanding on 
that basis, between the contending parties. The 
weightiest reasons make this expedient absolutely 
unacceptable. The Cubans have made the final 
appeal to arms to free themselves from an in- 
tolerable situation and to procure a definite 
remedy for the wrongs of their country. 
Autonomy, which after all, means Spanish sover- 
eignty, in no wise solves the question; and this 
can be demonstrated by arguments of an econo- 
mic, political and moral order. 

When the time came for the Metropolitan 
Government to turn over into our hands the 
administration of the Island we would find the 
country in such conditions, as to make productive 
labor impossible and the development of wealth 
and the maintainance of order extremely diffi- 
cult. The financial management of Spain in 
Cuba has been so unreasoning, so lacking in pre- 
vision, so indifferent to the future that if we were 
to assume the responsibilities it has created we 
would be confronted with immediate bankruptcy 
or the complete paralyzation of the moral devel- 
opment of public wealth. The fountains of 



wealth would be obstructed by a burden of 
taxation which would consume all the profits. 
Spain, who has never conceded the individuality 
of the Colony for the administration of its affairs, 
has given it a financial status for purposes of 
spoliation. Cuba has never had its own magis- 
trates and popular assemblies, but it has always 
had its own treasury. It was a Cuban treasury, 
since it fed on the revenues of the Island, but 
the disposal of it was a prerogative of Spain. 
Spain has made treaties and contracts in the name 
of Cuba without authorization or representation 
of the Cubans. Enormous loans have been con- 
tracted on the guaranty of the colonial treasury. 
At the beginning of the war a debt of 
$190,000,000 weighed upon Cuba for which an 
annual interest of $12,884, 549 was paid. Immedia- 
tely upon the beginning of the war the Govern- 
ment ordered a special issue of bond that were 
held in reserve for the conversion of previous 
obligations. Thus the Cuban treasury was over- 
burdened with a debt of $122,500,000 at 5 per 
cent interest, representing $6,125,000 annually. 
Spain has used up these plentiful resources of 
our wealth in making war against us to maintain 
her oppressive supremacy. She has just nego- 
tiated an interior loan of $80,000,000 at 5 per 
cent, declaring that they will be paid by Cuba 



after the pacification. This represents an addi- 
tional burden of $4,000,000 to he paid annually 
from the Cuban Budget. In this manner suppo- 
sing that the expenses of the war may be kept 
within the limits of official declarations, the first 
normal Budget of Spanish Cuba will have to 
meet an annual payment of 123,009,549 solely 
for charges of this overwhelming debt, which 
would be held entirely outside of the Island. In 
order to appreciate at a glance, the significance 
of this important fact, it is sufficient to remember 
that the Farmers' Association estimated in 1887 
the clear income of the Island of Cuba at 
$39,600,000, Supposing that Cuba would yield 
the same revenues when peace shall have been 
declared,— which is absurd,— is it at all possible 
that Cuba would be able to maintain its produc- 
tion, pay the expenses of administration and 
government, and attend to the development of 
the country with $16,000,000? 

Were it necessary to lay stress upon this 
line of argument we should say that the enor- 
mous taxation imposed by Spain, and the constant 
migration of capital from the Island have pre- 
vented all capitalization in Cuba and have made 
extremely dear all capital that has been brought 
from foreign contries. 



8 

The President's message acknowledges the 
fact that more than $50,000,000 are invested in 
Cuba by American citizens. Almost all the rail- 
roads on the Island belong to English capitalists 
and are worked with English capital. The large 
sums that represent the interests upon these 
capitals do not remain in Cuba. The country 
would certainly be utterly ruined if we were to 
add to this normal egress of capital the payment 
of a monstrous debt. 

On the other hand, we cannot presume that 
Spain will ever renounce the mercantile monop- 
oly which she now enjoys, becaus3 the undevel- 
oped condition of her industries and the great 
distance between Spain and Cuba do not permit 
the former to compete advantageously in our 
market. Now this monopoly in favor of Spain 
results in- an increase of the price of necessaries 
of life for the Cuban workingman; he is obliged 
to consume Spanish articles of bad quality and 
to pay for them dearly in order to keep up the 
frauds that enrich the merchant, and demoralize 
the people. 

From a political point of view the obstacles 
to an autonomic solution of the Cuban problem 
are equally great. Spain is the reverse of a 
Democratic state. There are three classes that 
govern and live upon the Spanish people*, the 



9 

military, the bureaucrats, called politicians, and 
the clergy. Each one of these receives a part 
of the spoils of Cuba and is resolved to hold the 
Island at all hazards. The Colonial army is com- 
posed exclusively of Spaniards and offers the 
best field for the avarice and ambition of the 
Spanish military. These will never consent to 
the withdrawal of the Spanish army from Cuba. 
Now, could the Cubans consider themselves free, 
with a foreign army dominating the island 
and a foreign fleet controlling its waters? 
The Spanish bureaucrats or politicians, derive 
a considerable portion of their power and profit 
from the patronage they exercise over the 
public offices in Cuba. This revenue they will 
not give up as long as they control the destinies 
of Spain. Would is be possible for the Cubans 
to improve the administration of the island 
whilst the most important offices were in the 
hands of adventurers, who look upon Cuba as a 
stepping stone for their own advancement and 
the rapid acquisition of wealth? The clergy of 
Cuba is also Spanish by birth and education, 
and it rivals the politicians in unscrupulous 
adroitness to draw the substance of the people. 
The influence of the clergy will be enlisted 
against all measures tending to grant the Cubans 
their natural liberty, and will be the first to 



oppose and misrepresent all concessions toward 
self-government. 

Such being the obstacles to be met with on 
the part of Spain, no less insurmountable are 
those that present themselves on the part of Cuba. 
The Cuban aspires to manage his own affairs 
and to be solely responsible for his future desti- 
nies, be they good or bad. He does not wish to 
see his future bound to that of a degenerate 
European nation, which is refractory to modern 
ideas of right. If after the Ten Years' War the 
Cuban was willing to accept colonial autonomy 
as his political aspiration, it was because he 
hoped that the lesson of the protracted struggle 
had not heen lost on Spanish statesmen, and 
because the economic situation of Cuba made 
him foresee the possibility to heal shortly the 
wounds of the war and to devote himself in days 
of peace to the reformation of his political and 
social condition. The subsequent conduct of 
Spain shattered all the hopes of the Cuban 
people. Spain adopted a system of mystification 
which constitutes a persistent grievance against 
our dignity and our rights, and she instituted, 
furthermore, a fiscal management which was 
surely driving us on to financial disaster, on the 
eve of which we resolved to take up arms. 

For this reasons the very men who for years, 



11 

advocated and were the champions of home-rule 
as the immediate solution of the Cuban problem, 
were among the first to respond to the call of 
their fellow citizens who pronunced themselves 
in favor of independence. The old autonomists, 
with very few exceptions, can be found today 
in the fields of battle, in exile, or in Spanish 
dungeons. The names of many of those who 
sign this manifesto are sufficient proof of the 
truth of our assertion. 

Powerful as these arguments unquestionably 
are, there are others of a still higher character 
that may be opposed to the plan indicated by the 
President. There can be no true political union 
where the bond of a common sentiment is lacking. 
From this point of view, the breach between the 
Cuban and the Spanish concience is radical and 
irremediable. The history of Spanish domination 
in Cuba during this century consists of a series 
of crimes perpetrated with the hypocritical 
sanction of the law. Since 1810 the scaffold has 
stood permanently in Cuba for the punishment 
of so-called political crimes. The number of 
Cuban patriots who have been hung, garroted 
or shot by the Spaniards is frightful. The 
number of those who have been killed arbitrarily 
without a shadow of process of law, is countless. 
On every occasion that the Cubans in desperation 



12 

have appealed to arms to overturn a tyrannical 
Government, the Spanish armies have fallen 
upon Cuba like hordes of Tartars carrying 
devastation and death before them. The Spanish 
police have established a reign of terror in the 
cities, dragging to Spanish dungeons for mere 
suspicions the most respectable citizens. The 
Cubans have had to choose between exile and 
the prison, or death. The proclamations of 
Spanish generals, from Yalmaseda to Weyler, 
show that they have considered themselves in an 
enemy's country, against which they have applied 
the laws of war of the barbarous ages. In 1869 
Yalmaseda desolated the eastern section of the 
Island, and in 1896 Weyler is making a desert of 
the western section. Spain has rejected no means 
to carry out her object of drowning in blood the 
love of liberty of the Cubans. She has paid 
informers, has favored treason and has never 
stopped at the commission of any crime. At 
this moment, the world contemplates, with horror 
and repugnance, the savage spectacle presented 
by Spain, frantically gloating over the death of a 
Cuban hero, whose mysterious disappearance 
has opened an unhealable wound in every Cuban 
breast. Nothing can be devised to bridge over 
this abyss of blood. Spain has put our homes 
in mourniug, has devastated our land, has 



13 

scattered us over the world without a country, 
without shelter, and has kindled in our hearts 
an inextinguishable flame of horror. Under the 
shadow of the Spanish flag the Cuban cannot 
live with a serene conscience. There can be no 
home for the Cuban in a Spanish colony. 

The great people of the United States cannot 
forget that the fathers of this free and prosperous 
nation establish as an incontrovertible political 
fact, that governments have been instituted to 
secure for the citizens the enjoyment of "life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness;" that 
governments have been "instituted among men 
deriving their just powers from the consent of 
the governed. That whenever any form of 
government becomes destructive of these ends, 
it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish 
it, and to institute a new government, laying its 
foundations on such principles and organizing 
its powers in such form, as to them shall seem 
most likely to effect their safety and happiness." 
The Cuban people under the power of Spain, 
can find no security for their properties, their 
lives, nor their liberties; they cannot count upon 
the product of their own labor nor can they 
develop freely the elements of moral and of 
material culture. In this lies the justification 
of the appeal to arms to abolish such a Govern- 



. 14 

ment and create another one which will insure 
the rights of the people. Can anyone doubt that 
the Cuban acts wisely if he reject a transaction 
which in every way, would maintain the political 
domination of Spain? 

The Government of this powerful Federa- 
tion can find also rules of conduct that have 
guided it in a number of precedents. We may 
be permitted to state that, with respect to Ame- 
rican colonies of European countries, Charles 
Sumner in 1869 indicated the proper course 
when he stated: "The day of European colonies 
is past, at least upon this hemisphere, where 
the rights of man were first proclaimed and 
where self-government was first organized." 
But yesterday colonists of Spain, tormented and 
down-trodden, and in open and just rebellion 
today, we cannot believe that the good offices of 
the great Republic who gave the first example to 
the world and who preserved the traditions of 
self-government, will be exerted to keep us in 
hateful bondage. We persevere in the hope 
that it will be exerted rather to secure for us our 
blood-bought right to liberty and independence. 

New Yoek, Decembee 12th, 1896. 



Board of Directors: 

Enrique Jose Varona, President. 

Isaac Carrillo. Vice-President. 

Francisco Figueras, Treasurer. 

Emilio del Junco, Recording Secretary. 

Nicolas Heredia, Corresponding Secretary. 

AMD 

Messes. 

Manuel Sanguily. 
Manuel Maria Coronado. 
Horatio Rubens. 
Enrique Trujillo. 
Gonzalo de Quesada. 
Rafael de Castro Palomino. 
Hector de Saavedra. 
Eduardo Cartaya. 
Emilio Del Monte. 
Manuel Monte verde. 
Ernesto Castro, 
Benjamin J. Guerra. 
Ricardo Lancis. 
Henry Lincoln de Zayas. 
Rafael Govin. 
Manuel R. de Morales. 
Manuel F. Cuervo. 
Diego Tamayo. 

Kdel G. Herra. 
1'Taneisco Chenard. 



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